# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2023_S204 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 204 THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS A Chaste and Decent Life: An Update to Human Sexuality 1981 Abbreviations used: AC Augsburg Confession Ap Apology of the Augsburg Confession CCM Commission on Constitutional Matters ConcC Concordia Commentary CTCR Commission on Theology and Church Relations FC SD Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration KW Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000). LC Large Catechism LSB Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006). LSCwE Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2017). LW Luther’s Works, American Edition, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Helmut T. Lehmann and Christopher Boyd Brown, 75 vols. (Philadelphia and St. Louis: Augsburg and Concordia Publishing House, 1955–). SA Smalcald Articles SC Small Catechism © 2022 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod 1333 S. Kirkwood Road St. Louis, MO 63122 888-THE LCMS • lcms.org All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Cover Image: Lightstock A REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS THE LUTHERAN CHURCH—MISSOURI SYNOD | DECEMBER 2022 Contents PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 I. HS 1981: REAFFIRMATIONS, NEW CHALLENGES ............................................................................ 3 A Chaste and Decent Life: An Update to Human Sexuality 1981 A. HS 1981: First Affirmation ................................................................................................................ 4 COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS B. HS 1981: Second Affirmation .......................................................................................................... 5 C. HS 1981: Third Affirmation ............................................................................................................... 6 D. HS 1981: Fourth Affirmation ............................................................................................................ 6 PREFACE E. HS 1981: Fifth Affirmation ................................................................................................................ 7 [T]he Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. … Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” … So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. F. HS 1981: Sixth Affirmation ................................................................................................................ 7 G. HS 1981: Seventh Affirmation ......................................................................................................... 8 II. HS 2023 FOUNDATIONS: CREATURELY LIFE, EMBODIED LOVE ............................................. 8 A. The First Article ................................................................................................................................ 10 B. The Second Article............................................................................................................................12 Genesis 2:7, 18, 21–25 (ESV1) 1. Sexual activity as illustrative of rebellion and disobedience ......................................13 2. Righteousness embodied — Christ as the visible Image and Likeness ..................14 C. The Third Article ................................................................................................................................14 Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (CSB2) III. HS 2023 APPLICATIONS: CHASTE AND DECENT LIFE AS MALE AND FEMALE ............17 A. Sexual Identity from God ...............................................................................................................17 B. Rebellious Sexuality in Need of Redemption ....................................................................... 20 1. Sexual rebellion, constant and changing ......................................................................... 20 2. Heterosexual rebellion ..............................................................................................................21 3. Homosexual rebellion .............................................................................................................24 4. The need for redemption in Christ......................................................................................25 5. Tension for the redeemed ......................................................................................................26 C. A Chaste and Decent Life..............................................................................................................27 1. Desire and the Christian ...........................................................................................................27 2. Chastity and Christlikeness ....................................................................................................28 3. Chastity in marriage and apart from marriage...............................................................33 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................37 “You are not your own.” One can hardly overstate the radical implications of such a claim. It seems to fly in the face of every human instinct and desire for self-determination. How dare anyone say or think such a thing? Christians dare to say that very thing every time we confess our creeds: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Or, as we also say it, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.” Lest there be any doubt, “heaven and earth” includes everything and everyone. Genesis 2 says that explicitly. In making our first parents and giving them the ability to procreate, God has made all of humanity. Because we are God’s creatures — His creation — we are not our own. Our rebellious heart, which continually longs for autonomy, hears that and feels threatened. But faith hears more clearly, knowing that since we are not our own, we belong, we have no less than life in God — we matter. This emphatic truth is foundational for all Christian theology and, therefore, for this report on human sexuality and for its predecessor report on the same topic. In 1981 the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) adopted Human Sexuality: A Theological Perspective (HS 1981).3 The 1981 report began where Scripture begins — with the creation of man and woman by God. It thereby also assumed that we are not our own. It gave particular attention to the understanding of marriage according to biblical and traditional Christian teaching, considered particular challenges to that understanding, and concluded with seven affirmations. 1 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2 Scripture quotations marked CSB are from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 3 Commission on Theology and Church Relations, Human Sexuality: A Theological Perspective (St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 1981). Referenced hereafter as HS 1981. HUMAN SEXUALITY 2023 Convention Workbook | THE LUTHERAN CHURCH —MISSOURI SYNOD 1